How Mass Effect 3 Ending’s Influenced Andromeda

There’s no arguing that Mass Effect 3’s ending was disappointing, as Bioware even created an extended cut to attempt to tie things up a little better following immense criticism. Ever since the release of the first Mass Effect Andromeda trailer, speculation has been brewing as to whether the next installment in the franchise can rebound from the previous subpar ending.

In a recent interview with IGN at the Game Awards, Mass Effect lead writer Mac Walters elaborated on how Mass effect 3’s ending influenced Andromeda.

“I think we learned from that sort of sense of how much people invest in their characters and how important it is to them to carry that forward.”

Walters stated that an important aspect of creating Andromeda was creating a new protagonist, one that people could fall in love with as they did with Shepard, and hopefully creating a fresh start. Another aspect detail the lead writer emphasized will be different in Mass Effect Andromeda is the moral shades of gray in regards to decision making.

“I should go.”

The most common criticism for the first trilogy’s ending revolves around the choice process of the endings being whittled down to Good, Bad or Neutral, or as fans donned it the Red, Blue or Green endings. The removal of the Paragon and Renegade morality system leads way to potentially interesting dialogue options, as players won’t necessarily know if they are making the right choice or not.

An interesting detail Walters highlighted in the interview was the comparison between the Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda’s galaxy politically.

“If you think about going to another galaxy, there’s not necessarily a military, there’s no council there watching your every move. What is a morality scale like paragon/renegade even mean in that? So some of the choices are more tone choices.”

While there may be instances of choices simply affecting the tone, Walter stressed that there will still be impactful decisions. The choices have consequence, but they will focus less on them being good or evil.

Time will tell whether Bioware truly learned from their mistakes, and if those mistakes Mass Effect Andromeda better. Mass Effect: Andromeda release spring 2017, so be sure to check back to the site for any more information regarding it and check out the gameplay trailer below!